ABC News Airs Less than Two Minutes of Condi's Speech

ABC News aired less than two minutes of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s Wednesday address to the Republican National Convention. 

ABC cut into Rice’s speech as she was speaking about how the United States cannot lead from behind on foreign policy. The RNC crowd roared after Rice delivered these lines. ABC showed the audience’s reaction, then pulled the plug on their coverage.

ABC cut abruptly to anchors Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. The transition was not fluid. As Rice was still speaking, Sawyer and Stephanopoulos started a discussion with panelists George Will, Donna Brazile, and Matt Dowd about Paul Ryan’s forthcoming speech.

ABC also recapped former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s speech and aired an RNC tribute video to the Bush family.

Sawyer spoke about how Republicans at the convention yearned to talk more about the George W. Bush years.

All this happened as Rice was delivering her remarks — which were being aired on other networks like CBS.

Then, the network cut to two of its reporters — David Muir and Jon Karl — who did live segments from the convention floor, speaking while Rice was speaking in the background. In Muir’s segment, Muir tried his best to keep his head stable. To the viewer, Muir was positioned right between Rice and the camera so the viewer could not see her in the background. But when Muir moved his head, the viewer could clearly see that Rice was still speaking.

ABC then cut to Jon Karl, who did a segment by the Wisconsin delegation and spoke loudly into his microphone as Rice was finishing her remarks, which could be seen in the background and on the big screen behind him.

Rice helps Republicans among almost every demographic group and is one of the party’s best ambassadors. ABC News’s Rick Klein said Rice’s speech was the best of the night, and Yahoo! News’s Holly Bailey said Rice electrified the audience.

Yet, ABC seemed intent on depriving its audience of hearing and Rice’s words.